United Liberty
Harry Reid could sink no lower
Thu, 08/02/2012 - 3:08pm | posted by Jason Pye
Mitt Romney’s taxes are once again coming up in the president campaign. With the Congress at a stalemate over whether to extend all current rates for another year and class warfare rhetoric ever-present, this is an issue where President Obama’s campaign and Democrats feel that Romney is vulnerable.
With that, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has taken it upon himself to float a baseless claim that the reason that Romney hasn’t disclosed more of his tax returns is because he didn’t pay any taxes at all:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) claimed Tuesday in an interview that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney refuses to release additional tax returns because he didn’t pay taxes for 10 years.
The interview, published Tuesday by The Huffington Post, includes several swipes by the Senate leader at the GOP candidate.
“His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son,” Reid said in reference to George Romney’s decision to turn over 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in 1968.
Reid suggested that Romney’s decision to withhold tax information would bar him from ever earning Senate confirmation to a Cabinet post. Then, Reid recalled a phone call his office received about a month ago from “a person who had invested with Bain Capital,” according to The Huffington Post.
Reid said the person told him: “Harry, he didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.”
“He didn’t pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that’s true? Well, I’m not certain,” Reid told HuffPo. “But obviously he can’t release those tax returns. How would it look?”
Romney has released returns dating back to 2010, but has declined to make more returns public, and there is no requirement that he do so. This issue had somewhat disappeared over the last couple of weeks, after ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been questioned by reporters about her down tax returns. In fact, only a handful those in Congress disclose their tax returns, according to a McClatchy report.
Reid, who hasn’t disclosed his own tax returns, again repeated the claim yesterday, claiming that a “number of people” had told him that Romney didn’t file his taxes. He also said that, despite the fact the claim is completely unsubstaniated, the burden of proof is on Romney — certainly a ludicrous assertion.
Jeremy Kolassa nailed it a couple of weeks ago when he wrote that these guys should be focusing on tax reform, not tax returns. But Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, nailed it last night, calling Reid’s claim what it really is — “a bullshit shot”:
Is there any doubt that a Romney administration would favor the rich and increase the income gap in our country? Mitt is a pariah in Mormon Clothing and will stop at nothing to expand an empire of greed for the rich in this country. Can his sacred Mormon underwear gain him enough donations to buy this election? See for yourself as Mitt dons his tighty-whities from the Good Lord Himself at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/05/mitt-romneys-magic-mormon-und…
Remember when John Kerry’s valor was questioned, even though he had a chestful of combat ribbons, and Mr. Bush could not locate a copy of his own DD214 to demonstrate that he was actually discharged instead of deserting? Despite lacking a shred of evidence, there are some who consider Mr. Bush to have served more honorably. Talk about sinking no lower.
Remember when the “birthers” claimed without a shred of evidence that Mr. Obama was not born in the city where the announcement ran in the local papers, but had been part of a conspiracy dating back 47 years, to put a Black kid in the White House. Even after the birth certificate was attested to as true by the governor of Hawaii? No really, they said that, and Mr. Romney laughed it off instead of pointing out what scum they were. Talk to them about sinking no lower.
Mr. Romney is in the enviable position of having everything he needs to show the world that Harry Reid is a despicable liar. Unfortunately, ONLY Mr. Romney can produce such evidence, and apparently he has not yet decided whether or not he is in fact a liar.
I hope FOX News clutches its collective pearls and pisses and moans for WEEKS about this insult, even though they have no moral high ground themselves. It will just keep in in the headlines and Mr. Romney will not be asked about anything else. Well played, Mr. Reid.
Disclaimer: I am a US Army veteran, E-5. Your patriotism may vary.
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